WARSAW - US president Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with the Bucharest Nine Summit to discuss how to proceed in Ukraine.

 The Bucharest Nine is an organization founded by the presidents of Poland and Romania in 2015. Its members are the countries of the NATO Eastern Flank: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. The organization was created in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea to Russia from Ukraine.  

 President Biden reassures everyone ‘it’s even more important that we continue to stand together.  And I think this is proof of this — how strongly we feel.’ 

 At the same time as Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán openly talks about opposing himself to the military aid to Ukraine, Bulgaria hardens its anti-war position. The Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said (to Biden) that his government aims to see ‘greater involvement of the U.S. in Europe, NATO’s eastern flank and, of course, more aid to Ukraine’.

 Marcin Pawel Przydacz, Poland's secretary of State and Head of the International Policy Bureau, said the B9 meeting was held in anticipation to the official NATO summit planned to be held in Vilnius this July. The secretary also said that the allies will 'support each other in case of any threat,' according to reporters. 

 Alexandra Viatteau, a journalist working for TVN24 as a correspondent between France and Poland, said that the French were very interested in the speeches given by President Biden and that the French media were waiting for him to address three main points in particular. Firstly, they wanted to see him thank the Polish people for the help they've been offering to Ukraine, secondly, whether the President would say anything to reassure Ukrainians about the western and American help they are getting, and thirdly, they were hoping for a direct answer to the speech done by Putin on Tuesday morning. 

 The Polish media criticize the happiness felt by the governing party PiS, as they enjoyed meeting and discussing matters with the President of the United States. Gazeta Wyborcza, a newspaper known for supporting the left wing more, rather than the current PiS-Government, claims that the only reason the speeches and meetings were held in Poland, is because of its strategic geographical position, clearly needed by the allies. On the other hand, the Rzeczpospolita newspaper who supports PiS, also agrees on the weakness of Polish politics, especially the aspect of its democracy, as said by Ninkiewicz, who recalls the ‘make America great again’ hats worn by Polish Politicians during the American elections – proving that the happiness felt by PiS is not given by the choice Biden made to visit Poland, but by the fact that the country is still perceived as a ‘serious’ democracy, although very faulty.

 nk